When God is Your Portion (Psalms 119:57-64)
When God is Your Portion
Psalms 119:57-64
October 2, 2011
In 1905 Civilia Martin wrote the well-loved lyrics:
“Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home, When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;”
The song was inspired by her friendship with a handicapped couple,
Who remained happy throughout their afflictions.
The secret to this happiness was that
“Jesus is my portion” and “He watches me”
In other words this couple of extreme difficulty did not mope in their poor condition, but yet considered themselves to be rich simply because they had the most valuable thing of all.
They knew Jesus.
Paul said it like this:
Philippians 3:7-8 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”
Peter said this:
1 Peter 2:6-7 “For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” This precious value, then, is for you who believe;”
It was without a doubt that the apostles of the New Testament
Counted their relationship with Christ as more valuable
Than any other thing they could have in life.
Peter even said:
Matthew 19:27a “Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You…”
• We have seen James and John leave their father.
• We have seen Matthew leave his tax booth.
• We saw Paul leave his religion.
And the reality is that everyone who wants to enter the kingdom of heaven
Must value a relationship with Christ exactly that much.
Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
In other words salvation can be viewed as
TRADING EVERYTHING FOR A RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.
He becomes more valuable than all.
He literally becomes our portion.
Now this thought is actually rooted in the Old Testament.
• We remember the 12 tribes of Israel.
• God allotted out the promised land to each tribe except for one.
Levi received no inheritance in the land.
Numbers 18:20 “Then the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land nor own any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the sons of Israel.”
And by the way, we are now a kingdom of priests.
1 Peter 2:9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
And God is our inheritance as well.
Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
And all throughout the Old Testament we see people realize
That there was no greater inheritance than to possess God.
Jeremiah 10:16 calls God “the portion of Jacob”
Psalms 16:5-6 “The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.”
And perhaps my favorite came from Asaph.
(The man who was envious of the rich)
When he finally learned that earthly treasures
Aren’t nearly as valuable as knowing God, he wrote:
Psalms 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
And the point to be made is that salvation is a realization that
I am forsaking all to have a relationship with the living God.
He becomes my treasure
He becomes my inheritance
He becomes my portion
Now I say all that to sort of lead in to the text tonight.
For you will notice that our Psalmist has precisely that same mindset.
“The LORD is my portion;”
And so from the outset we know where the Psalmist’s heart lies.
He is the real deal.
• He would rather have God than any other thing.
• He would forsake all for the sake of knowing God.
• God is His portion and the lines have fallen to him in pleasant places.
This is a true believer.
All he has is God, and that is enough.
We see where he is, and we understand that
This is where we should all be as well.
What I want to show you tonight is the life of a man
Who believes that the LORD is his portion.
I want to show you how a person who treasures God
Above every other thing lives.
This is not a stanza showing you how to make God your portion,
But rather it is a stanza that shows us how a person lives
When God is his portion.
Obviously then we can use this stanza to evaluate our own lives.
We can see if my heart is like that of Asaph, or the Apostles, or even this Psalmist.
Tonight I am going to show you 9 realities in a life
Where God is the only portion.
#1 COMMITMENT
Psalms 119:57b
“I have promised to keep Your words.”
Here our Psalmist recounts the commitment he made to God
On the day he chose God over everything else.
• He had made a commitment to obey God.
• He had made a commitment to submit to God.
You and I know that this type of commitment is at the heart of salvation.
After all, salvation is a Lordship issue.
Salvation is a submission issue.
• That is why you must “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord”
• That is why you must obey the Lord’s command to “Follow Me”
• That is why you must listen when He says, “Take My yoke upon you”
Christ doesn’t accept half-hearted commitments.
We learned that last week with the parable of the sower.
Christ wants the one who will commit his/her life to Him.
The Psalmist did:
He “promised to keep [His] words.”
So our first question is AM I COMMITTED TO OBEDIENCE?
When the Lord is our portion we are.
All we want is Him and obedience strengthens that relationship.
Commitment
#2 SEEKING
Psalms 119:58
Isn’t that a great statement?
“I sought Your favor with all my heart;”
Who do you want to please in this life?
It is not hard to see who the Psalmist wanted to please.
He wanted to please God.
Certainly this is not seen in a legalistic sense.
We know that Christ makes us pleasing by reason of His justification.
But practically we still live this life,
And so we want to do that in a way that delights God.
Paul told the Colossians
Colossians 1:10 “so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;”
He told the Corinthians
2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
It was all about living in a way that pleases God.
And this is the heart of a man who truly sees God as his portion.
He wants to live his life in a way that makes God proud.
And even at that, he is counting on God to help him find it.
“Be gracious to me according to Your word.”
In other words.
He knows God’s word says that
We will seek and find if we seek with all our heart.
And so as he seeks to please God, he asks God to honor his word
By being gracious to reveal Himself.
The point to be made here is that he really wants
To achieve a pleasing lifestyle before God.
He doesn’t just want to be credited with saying he wants to please God.
He actually wants to please God.
And he wants it so badly that he asks God to graciously help him.
This is the mindset of a man when God is his portion.
So I have to ask: DO I SEEK GOD’S FAVOR?
Commitment, Seeking
#3 HUMILITY
Psalms 119:59
This is really a great statement.
“I considered my ways”
How many people are even willing to do this anymore?
It is the practice of self-evaluation.
He was willing to take an honest and objective view
Of what he really looks like.
• He questioned his actions…
• He listened to the words that came out of his lips…
• He evaluated the feelings he had in his heart…
He looked intently into what kind of man he was.
Very few do that today.
Most today just want to feel good about themselves
And would really rather not know the truth.
But not this man, he took inventory.
And once he saw what he was, he made a decision,
“and turned my feet to Your testimonies.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
This man lived that.
He didn’t hold his own way of thinking above God’s.
He looked honest at his life, saw where it did not measure up,
And made a conscious decision to align with God’s word.
We call that humility.
Obedience is the greatest form of humility.
Humility is not about what you say,
“Oh, I’m not good enough…”, “Oh, I’m not worthy…”
Anyone can say that.
People do, and yet prove their arrogance
By insisting upon their own way over God’s.
If you want to prove yourself humble,
Take every area of your life that is inconsistent with God’s way
And change it to match His.
Let go of your own ideas and solutions, and trust God’s.
That is humility.
The Psalmist had that.
DO I?
DO I CONSIDER MY WAYS AND TURN TO WALK IN GOD’S?
#4 EAGERNESS
Psalms 119:60
And here is a beautiful thought.
Not only was he willing to obey God’s word over his own thoughts.
He was eager to do it.
“I hastened and did not delay to keep Your commandments”
• He hurried…
• He went now…
• He did not procrastinate…
His desire was obedience and that is what he did.
This certainly validates that his desire was genuine.
A person that gives lip service to how much they desire to obey,
But yet never obeys, leaves doubt as to how genuine his desire is.
We know that this man genuinely wanted obedience,
Because when the first opportunity for obedience arose, he ran to it.
He was eager.
AM I?
DO I WANT OBEDIENCE THAT BADLY?
Commitment, Seeking, Humility, Eagerness
#5 PERSEVERANCE
Psalms 119:61
Here we find that life wasn’t always a bed of roses for our Psalmist.
“The cords of the wicked have encircled me,”
• This man has been surrounded…
• This man has been ensnared…
• This man has been tempted…
• This man has been persecuted…
In short, living a life where God alone is your portion is not an easy life.
There are plenty of temptations
And even opportunities to run to other things.
But this man didn’t.
God was his portion, and he was sticking with it.
So even when he was persecuted, he said,
“But I have not forgotten Your law.”
It wasn’t easy, but he wasn’t leaving.
I like Peter’s answer in John 6.
Nearly all of Jesus’ disciples had forsaken Him and departed.
John 6:66-69 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Peter wasn’t saying that it was easy.
He was saying that he wasn’t going anywhere else.
You are our portion.
How could I leave?
That is the attitude of a man who believes God is his portion.
He won’t forsake him due to hardship.
And again, I must ask: DO I CLING TO GOD’S WORD EVEN WHEN IT IS HARD TO DO SO?
DO I TREAT GOD LIKE HE IS MY INHERITANCE?
#6 GRATITUDE
Psalms 119:62
There is beauty for you.
Even amidst hardship there is always a sense
That I still have it better than I deserve.
Psalms 103:10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”
Sure it was hard.
In order for God to be your portion,
There can at times feel like you have lost nearly everything.
But the reality is you haven’t.
You just need to see differently.
God was his portion, but he wasn’t upset about it.
God was his portion, and he didn’t feel cheated.
He felt blessed to know that he had inherited the Lord.
And so, “At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You because of Your righteous ordinances.”
He was grateful for God and His word.
Gratitude is obviously an important part of the Christian life.
Colossians 3:15-17 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
God calls us to be thankful,
Because the reality is that we got a good deal.
• I know life is hard…
• I know you didn’t get to keep your fishing business or your tax booth…
• I know people mock you now…
BUT YOU ARE FORGIVEN, AND YOU ARE AN HEIR OF GOD!
• Was that not a good trade?
• Was that not worth it?
• Have you not still come out on top?
If God is willing to be our portion, than we got a great deal!
Be grateful.
ARE YOU?
#7 FELLOWSHIP
Psalms 119:63
Here we find that not only is God His portion,
But that he loves to be in the company of other people
Who have inherited God as well.
And really, how can you claim that God is your portion,
When you are too busy in the world
To want to commune with God’s people?
This man wanted to be around the obedient.
Certainly Jesus did.
Matthew 12:46-50 “While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Certainly the early church did.
Acts 2:46-47 “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Those who trust in God as their portion,
Naturally want to commune with one another.
It is a brotherly love that God has instilled in us.
It is a fellowship of the Spirit that is supernatural.
And those who forsake this world that they might gain Christ,
Naturally want to be around others who have done the same.
DO YOU?
DO YOU LONG FOR THE FELLOWSHIP OF OTHER BELIEVERS?
Commitment, Seeking, Humility, Eagerness, Perseverance, Gratitude, Fellowship
#8 PERCEPTION
Psalms 119:64a
“The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, O LORD;”
In other words, it is hard to be down in the dumps
And negative all the time when you are an heir of God.
If we have truly forsaken this world in order to gain Christ,
Then it is hard to grieve the loss of it
As though we have been wronged.
“Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come, Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home, When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He: His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;”
Those who have gained Christ, have a unique perspective on life,
And that is that God’s mercy is everywhere.
Let me recount His blessings to me just today…
Let me recount my benefits from knowing Him just today…
I’m living, I’m breathing, I have shelter, I have food, I have friends, I am forgiven, I have hope, I have righteousness, etc.
The Psalmist had a vast inheritance.
God was his portion, and as he looked around,
He saw that was a good thing, for God is merciful all over the place.
IS THAT MY PERCEPTION?
Or am I bitter that life isn’t the way I want it?
#9 GROWTH
Psalms 119:64b
The Psalmist closes his list by saying, “Teach me Your statutes.”
In other words, I want to continue.
Remember Paul?
After he gained Christ…
Philippians 3:12-14 “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Peter said:
2 Peter 3:17-18 “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
And certainly the early church did this:
Acts 2:42 “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
These were people who wanted
Everything they could get out of the relationship.
DID YOU EVER GET A NEW CELL PHONE?
(and you spend days playing with it to learn all the features)
Well, it stands to reason that when you inherit God,
You ought to really spend some time
Learning all about what you just inherited.
This man wanted to continue to grow and learn.
The point is that it is not hard to spot someone
Who truly has made God his portion.
• They are Committed to His word
• They are Seeking His favor
• They are Humbly changing their ways to match His
• They are Eager to obey what God has taught
• They are Perseverant to obey even when it is hard
• They are Grateful for all that God has given them
• They desire Fellowship with others like them
• They Perceive that God is good to them
• They desire to Grow even more in the knowledge of God
For all those today
Who would claim that they have a relationship with God,
It is not hard to spot those who really do possess Him.
When God is your portion it is obvious in life.
It was in the Psalmist’s life.
Let it be obvious in yours.
Psalms 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.”
